Full size all steel .40

H

HistoryJunky

New member
I'm looking for a good .40 pistol for my wife. I reload and shoot .40 and she does not shoot a lot.

She is pretty new to handguns, so a decent amount of weight would be nice to help absorb recoil.

A must is that the grip has to be fairly small. Her and I both have small hands, size 8 gloves, small. Single or double stack doesn't matter.

We both find the M&P .40 with small back strap about the max grip size/trigger reach acceptable.

Suggestions?
 
I think a single stack gen 3 S&W would be a good option for you. There are too many model combinations to mention here, let google be your guide.

The 4013 is a single stack-compact model, which might be a good fit.

Also the Sig P239 is a sweet shooter.
 
call your friends, meet at the range with your wife, let her shoot a wide variety of pistols. don't settle on 40 for her. 9mm, loaded with good ammo (that has passed the FBI barrier penetration tests) is equally effective and much easier to shoot than 40.

do not try to pick a gun for someone else. you wouldn't want your shooting buddy to pick your new pistol for you, would you? same idea.

for a new shooter, i'd stick with striker fired pistols.
 
I agree with sils79 that the 5906 and like pistols are butter. Finding one lately may be a treasure hunt other than gun broker and i don't deal with them. YMMV.

There are other affordable steel options in the Cz platform which shoot very well. CZ is a very copied design platform and the witness is a great option to the CZ. Plus the TriStar has a steel frame version. IWI Baby Eagle is another option but at around $600 it will take a few more dollars from your savings. Seems Tri Star has gotten better reviews than the Canik version of the CZ platform lately and can be had for less than $400 in the
C-100.
The aforementioned Tanfoglio Witness start at $ 460 and have compact versions and have a 3.6" barrel. The witness is more available through Buds or Davidson's and also have a full size version with a 4.5" barrel.
 
Sig makes a variety of full sized guns in .40 S&W - many with alloy frames / some with stainless...in 226 and 229 line. But all double stack guns ...are not great for smaller hands.

Sig also makes a smaller gun, not a full sized, 239 model...that is pretty easy to shoot in .40 S&W...

I don't know what your budget is ..but you can get a 1911 made by Wilson Combat in .40 S&W...in their full sized CQB as an example - but you're up in the $4,000 price range now.../ but the 1911 is a very good platform for a number of calibers..and its easy to buy an all steel 1911 ( but not many companies make them in .40 S&W vs .45 acp or 9mm ).
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But all of these same models are available in 9mm as well...and for someone that doesn't shoot too much / and if you want to significantly reduce recoil there is nothing wrong with a 9mm ( I've been a big fan of the .45 acp in a 1911 for a long time...and I've moved over to the 9mm in a 1911 as a carry gun or a range gun...much less recoil, some very good defensive ammo out there in 9mm now that was not around 10 or 15 yrs ago )...
 
I would highly suggest the M&P since you both like it so much. I have a Pro in 9mm I recently picked up and it's fantastic. With the small backstrap it is honestly about the same as a single stack 1911. Sig and CZ, as another poster mentioned, are great full size steel guns however the grips on them will be rather large in comparison. Another pricier but cool option would be a .40 S&W 1911 but there are very few manufacturers with the chambering. You will be well suited to thin grips (like VZ) and a short trigger. That's the setup I have on my .45 build and it is perfect for my smaller hands.
 
Wreck-n-Crew said:
Seems Tri Star has gotten better reviews than the Canik version of the CZ platform lately and can be had for less than $400 in the
C-100.
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Seems a little odd considering that AFAIK Canik makes all TriStar pistols. :rolleyes:

FWIW I second (third?) the motion to try out the SIG P239. My DSW has truly tiny hands and the P239 is one of the few full-power pistols she finds comfortable.
 
shaunpain said:
I would highly suggest the M&P since you both like it so much. I have a Pro in 9mm I recently picked up and it's fantastic. With the small backstrap it is honestly about the same as a single stack 1911. Sig and CZ, as another poster mentioned, are great full size steel guns however the grips on them will be rather large in comparison. Another pricier but cool option would be a .40 S&W 1911 but there are very few manufacturers with the chambering. You will be well suited to thin grips (like VZ) and a short trigger. That's the setup I have on my .45 build and it is perfect for my smaller hands.
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I would suggest it as well, but I have one myself.
 
carguychris said:
Seems a little odd considering that AFAIK Canik makes all TriStar pistols. :rolleyes:

FWIW I second (third?) the motion to try out the SIG P239. My DSW has truly tiny hands and the P239 is one of the few full-power pistols she finds comfortable.
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I may have to see if we can track down a 239. My wife likes Sigs. She had a Mosquito and liked it quite a bit.

I wouldn't be upset shooting it either from time to time :)
 
carguychris said:
Seems a little odd considering that AFAIK Canik makes all TriStar pistols. :rolleyes:

FWIW I second (third?) the motion to try out the SIG P239. My DSW has truly tiny hands and the P239 is one of the few full-power pistols she finds comfortable.
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No they don't. Separate operations and companies though the have worked together. Same way as tanfoglio, SAR, and EAA.
 
HS,

While back I found this Colt 1911, series 80, in .40 S&W.

$700 and it shoots very well. Fly in the ointment? Was made for only two years. Sadly it's a collector's item.

I wanted it for IDPA but now it's a safe queen.

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carguychris said:
...AFAIK Canik makes all TriStar pistols.
Wreck-n-Crew said:
No they don't. Separate operations and companies though the have worked together. Same way as tanfoglio, SAR, and EAA.
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TriStar and EAA are comparable in that they're importers and distributors, not manufacturers; TriStar imports Canik pistols just like EAA imports SAR, Tanfoglio, and Zastava pistols.

I'm not making this up. See published sources below.

GunsAmerica.com review of TriStar P-120, April 2014
The P-120 is the latest addition to the growing line of TriStar pistols. All TriStar pistols are manufactured by in Turkey Canik 55, a NATO-certified small arms maker that manufacturers small arms for many military and law enforcement organizations.
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American Rifleman review of TriStar T-120, November 2013
One company that has a reputation for providing top quality CZ-style pistols for an affordable price is Canik 55 of Turkey. Recently, Canik 55 teamed up with TriStar Sporting Arms to import the T-120 9 mm into the American shooting market.
...
Manufacturer: Canik 55, Turkey

Distributor: TriStar Sporting Arms; Tristararms.com
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American Rifleman review of TriStar C-100, July 2013
TriStar Sporting Arms has built its reputation around the importation of quality Turkish sporting and defensive shotguns offered at reasonable prices. Not long ago the company decided to expand its product line to include a series of semi-automatic pistols built by Canik 55. Canik has a reputation for producing pistol clones that often rival the originals for quality and reliability, but without the sticker shock.
...
Manufacturer: Canik 55, Turkey

Distributor: TriStar Sporting Arms ; (816) 421-1400; tristararms.com
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HistoryJunky said:
I may have to see if we can track down a 239.
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Hint: Try to find one with a so-called Short Trigger (or thin trigger). It is physically slimmer than the standard trigger and reduces the trigger reach, particularly in DA mode.

Please note that this is NOT the same thing as the Short Reset Trigger or SRT, which modifies the reset length only. A SIG can have both the SRT and the short trigger, or one but not the other; they don't have to work together.

Be warned that some folks stubbornly conflate the two, and a few of them confusingly also refer to the short trigger as the SRT, for Short Reach Trigger! :rolleyes: Hence, it's s good idea to Google the term so you can see what the short-but-not-necessarily-short-reset trigger looks like; the gin-yu-wine SRT is internal and, as mentioned above, can be used with either type of external trigger.
 
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Rock Island makes 1911s in .40. I have often complained of my own small hands and many responders have suggested a Browning Hi-Power.
 
I personally would seriously consider checking out a CZ, my girlfriend is about 5'1" and we rented some pistols the othe other day because Im looking to get myself a new 45. Now she shot a compact CZ75 9mm beautifully. I shot one 14 round mag myself and it had next to no recoil and was a smooth gun. Really was a great gun for a little lady and even a big guy like me loved it. (6'2" 270lbs) I also thought the 45 acp CZ were just as wonderful so I can imagine a 40 call would also likely perform wonderfully as a range toy and ccw.
 
I also would suggest a S&W gen 3 like a 4006 or a nice Sig, if she is not a regular shooter have you though about dropping down to a 9mm? I know you reload for the 40, why not use this as a reason to reload for the 9mm also?
 
Alas for all the 239 love, it is not a steel frame as requested by the OP.

But I would suggest that the lady not right away rule out the polymer frame guns, just because they are lighter. Many people think that polymer frames handle recoil in a unique way, which seems to reduce the felt recoil.

The comment about trying many guns first was dead on. There are so many polymer guns in full or compact sizes, that I think anybody can find one which fits so very nicely. The trick is finding just the right the gun and the right back-strap, for those with replaceable grip parts.

It was good advice to stick with 9mm, since the .40 has noticeably more muzzle blast due to the higher pressures of that cartridge. For a new shooter, that may be a bad flinch just waiting to happen. And as mentioned, having a .22 with much the same action as the "serious" gun is the best way to get in lots of practice on the cheap.

The all-steel S&W 5906 is indeed heavy, but I do not consider it a good size for smaller hands. The whole class of all-steel guns seems to be going away, unless you count 1911 pistols. Not much comes to mind which hasn't been mentioned, although I do not know what products Taurus offers.

Bart Noir
 
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